HOW IS YOUR CHARACTER DEVELOPING THIS SERIES?
She seems to be growing up a bit and then just when you think she is, she’s back up to her old tricks. She’s back to being a little minx again. Hopefully someone like Yvonne will tell her to get her act together.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING IN BAD GIRLS?
The atmosphere with the cast and the crew. Everyone gets on so well. I really look forward to coming on set, and I get upset on days when I’m not working! It’s unusual to have a job that you feel that way about.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?
Certainly not her sense of fashion, which seems to be deteriorating by the second. Her sense of fun, I suppose. She’s got so much energy, which I wish I could have on set. Sometimes when I’m really tired on set I think ‘I wish I could just be running about like Shaz would.’

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?
She’s got this childish need to get revenge on people if they do her wrong, and it’s so not what I am. It makes it fun to play but it can be irritating at times. I read a script and I think ‘Why are you doing that, you idiot?’

DO YOU LIKE THE COSTUMES THAT YOUR CHARACTER WEARS? WOULD YOU WEAR THEM OUT?
No. I’ve got a couple of T-shirts, vest tops, that I like quite a lot, and maybe one pair of trousers, but apart from that, I wouldn’t be seen dead in any of them as myself. I never had a shell-suit. Would I have tattoos? No! The one on Shaz’s hand says ‘Denny’ so that would be a bit sad, wouldn’t it? The one on her arm is a barcode. It’s so five minutes ago…

HOW DO PEOPLE RE-ACT TO YOU ON THE STREET?
Mostly they go ‘Ahh! It’s that little cute one! You’re so little and young and cute.’ And they mess your hair up. It’s mostly a good reaction. It depends what’s been going on in the story-lines. There’s been times when they’ve said ‘Stop playing tricks on Sylvia…’ but they’re only messing about. I usually smile and nod and leg it when people recognise me.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? ANY TRAITS THAT YOU SHARE?
I used to think that maybe we did have a few things in common, but I think we’ve grown further apart. I used to be a bit more like Shaz but because she irritates me so much I’ve tried to change that side of myself. But Shaz is changing too, so we’re both evolving.

WHAT SCENE HAVE YOU MOST ENJOYED OR HATED FILMING SO FAR?
I hated the first scene I ever did, basically because I was so nervous and I thought I was awful in it. It was coincidentally the first scene that Shaz ever appeared in, the one at the reception with Tracey [Wilkinson], and I was so nervous, I couldn’t even see. I had blurred vision. I was shaking and I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t really done any telly before and nobody seemed to know that, so no-one was saying ‘We’ll just go again - but it’s not your fault.’ Every time they said to go again, I thought it was because I was crap. My favourite ones were learning the kickboxing, and the tunnel stuff. I loved that. I got filthy, I spent a week doing night shoots and day shoots and being knackered and dirty and going home and having a bath and the bathwater would end up brown. It was gross, but it was good to be outside, doing something different.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW EXTERIOR?
It’s excellent, absolutely amazing. I had to go around and touch every wall just to see if it was real. It’s really odd, you tap on it and it’s hollow. Even in the garden, some of the plants are real and some aren’t, so I spent about half an hour going round and touching them all, saying ‘But which ones are real? Let’s see if I can guess…’

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREETIME?
I went on holiday with my sister [Keeley, who stars in the series At Home With The Braithwaites]. I had between series. We had a really excellent time; we get on so well. It’s just getting better and better – perhaps it’s because we spend more time away from each other. She’s growing up too so it’s as if we’re getting closer in age. I don’t go out to pubs and clubs much but maybe I’ll just go around to a friend’s house and we’ll get a video or have a bottle of wine or something, and I like to cook as well. I’m quite good, actually!

WHAT’S THE WORST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?
When Anna, who’s my make-up artist, had to bleach and cut my hair the first day back, I’d had it dyed brownish in the break to avoid being recognised, so she had to bleach it twice. She was really worried that my hair was going to fall out, and I thought it was hilarious. I mean, if it did fall out, my hair’s so short anyway that it would hardly matter, they’d just have to give me a skinhead. So I kept making jokes about it and saying ‘Oh, my scalp’s starting to tingle a bit…’ She was getting more and more worried and really worked up about it. She’d cut my hair between the two applications of the bleach, so there was hair all over the floor, and when she went out of the room, I picked up a handful of hair and sprinkled it on my head. When she came back in I started pulling it out, saying ‘Anna, my hair’s falling out, they’ll fire you…’ She totally freaked out, she went absolutely grey, white… every colour in the world.